News Release

Lew: More Wall Street Connections at Treasury

January 10, 2013

C-SPAN reports: “Pres. Obama is expected to announce at 1:30pm (ET) that he will nominate Jack Lew to be the next treasury secretary. Lew is the current White House chief of staff and would replace Timothy Geithner in the position.”

ROBERT WEISSMAN, via Angela Bradbery [email] for broadcast media, Barbara Holzer [email]
President of Public Citizen, Weissman said today: “The last thing the Obama administration needs is to continue having Wall Street insiders and fellow travelers shaping its economic policy. Unfortunately, Jacob Lew has deep Wall Street connections, having worked before joining the Obama administration as managing director and chief operating officer of Citi Global Wealth Management and then Citi Alternative Investments. …

“[Lew] reflects a Wall Street perspective on key economic and policy issues. For example, at a 2010 confirmation hearing, he told the Senate Budget Committee that he did not believe deregulation was a proximate cause of the financial crisis. It is imperative that the administration finally break from Wall Street on economic and regulatory policy.”

SARAH ANDERSON, via Lacy MacAuley [email]
Global economy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies, Anderson just wrote the piece “4 Modest Wishes for New Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.” Anderson’s number one wish: “If you were complicit in the 2008 crash, please fess up and make a convincing case that you’ve seen the light.” She writes: “Lew was the chief operating officer of Citigroup’s Alternative Investments unit from 2006 through the crash (he left in 2009) and he should reveal more about what he did there. This should also apply to other top Treasury leaders. Since Lew, a former head of the Office on Management and Budget, is considered more of a budget guy than a financial markets guy, there are rumors that President Obama is planning to install a Wall Street executive as his deputy.” http://www.alternet.org/economy/4-modest-wishes-new-treasury-secretary-jack-lew